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Mercy Ekwere, 44, from Edo Esit Eket, Akwa Ibom State, escaped death this week, after police dispersed witch-hunters who cordoned her, tied her hands and legs, then tortured her with sticks and machetes, to a state of coma.
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Her brother’s daughter who’s about 12 years old had been dragged to the town, over allegations of witchcraft as a result of the death of a 5-year old child.
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After a lengthy torture, the girl was forced to tell the witch-hunters that her aunt, Ms. Ekwere, took the deceased child to the coven and strangled her to death.
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Ekwere said that as she arrived the scene, she was hurled with insults and abuses by a mammoth crowd and was not given a chance to say anything, only for a mob to descend on her mercilessly.
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Policemen, invited by her brother, Emmanuel, eventually came to their rescue. When she returned to her husband, she was not allowed entrance to the house.
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She eventually made her way to the Child’s Right And Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) in Ikot Afaha, Eket, where she has been given a temporary refuge.
